To win a scholarship to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York is, to most student dancers, a next to impossible dream. But for NIU dancer Donna Kamowski, that dream became reality this summer as she spent six weeks studying at the prestigious institution.

Kamowski won the scholarship while competing at the annual American College Dance Festival at Indiana University.

“Every other year, in January, the theatre/dance department sends dancers to the competition,” Kamowski said.

“In the Midwest division last year, 32 colleges competed, and 48 dances were entered,” she said.

Kamowski and 12 other NIU dancers performed the modern ballet piece, “In Memoriam,” which was choreographed by NIU dance faculty member Randall Newsom.

“‘In Memoriam’ was chosen by the adjudicators to be performed in the gala performance, which took place on the last day of the (four-day) festival,” said NIU Dancer Elizabeth Neville, who won the alternative spot in the Martha Graham Scholarship.

“The gala included the eight dances which were judged to be the best of all of the dances that were entered. It was a real honor to be chosen,” she added.

“TV-8 (the NIU television station) came and did a documentary on us while we were rehearsing in December,” Neville said.

“With dance classes all morning and rehearsals in front of the camera in the afternoon, it made us really aware of what a professional company goes through. It was really a good experience for us.”

Kamowski, a computer science major who plans on dancing professionally when she graduates, was chosen out of all of the dancers in the gala performance to receive the Graham scholarship.

“We think it’s really a great thing to think that this scholarship was given to someone from Northern,” Neville said. “NIU really made a great showing at the festival.”

Kamowski’s six weeks in New York were spent in an intensive workshop study of the “Graham Technique,” a well-known, widely-used form of modern dance which originated at the school.

Kamowski said, “I took technique classes and repertory classes, where we learned the choreography that the company (The Martha Graham Modern Dance Company) itself uses. I also got to see the company in rehearsal as well as in performance,” she added.

Kamowski said, “It was called an intensive workshop, and it was a very intensive experience for me. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything in the world.”